haven't noticed that at all. why would you even block anything other than special attacks anyway? i think the battle system is actually v good for this sort of game, the only criticism i have is that the party AI is dumb and you don't have enough control over it. wouldn't have hurt to take some cues from xenoblade.

the puzzles aren't really puzzles but that's ok because i hate puzzles in most gams and especially in jrpgs

I had acquired a copy of the Ratchet & Clank collection for the PS3 a few months back. And I had started playing the first game for the PS2 several years ago, but had gotten stuck on one level and never revisited it. Last week I pulled the collection off the shelf and gave the game another try.

I was glad I did. The overall experience of the original Ratchet & Clank was a positive one. The collection does a good job of up-scaling the title, without throwing in any overt changes. The exaggerated cartoon graphics hold up well over time. Insomniac's colorful and personality-infused creation has aged like fine wine.

If I had one major complaint, it would be some of the boss fights. They are very few, and the ones that are there feel a little lackluster. The final boss in particular was a study in frustration.

What really stood out as excellent was the level design, and the encounters for the basic enemies. These elements had been carefully crafted to encourage experimentation and flexible thinking with the game's wide variety of weaponry. This is where the game really shined.

I'm going to take a little break from the series after the first entry, but I am looking forward to revisiting R&C down the line.

I had acquired a copy of the Ratchet & Clank collection for the PS3 a few months back. And I had started playing the first game for the PS2 several years ago, but had gotten stuck on one level and never revisited it. Last week I pulled the collection off the shelf and gave the game another try.

I was glad I did. The overall experience of the original Ratchet & Clank was a positive one. The collection does a good job of up-scaling the title, without throwing in any overt changes. The exaggerated cartoon graphics hold up well over time. Insomniac's colorful and personality-infused creation has aged like fine wine.

If I had one major complaint, it would be some of the boss fights. They are very few, and the ones that are there feel a little lackluster. The final boss in particular was a study in frustration.

What really stood out as excellent was the level design, and the encounters for the basic enemies. These elements had been carefully crafted to encourage experimentation and flexible thinking with the game's wide variety of weaponry. This is where the game really shined.

I'm going to take a little break from the series after the first entry, but I am looking forward to revisiting R&C down the line.

I don't remember the title, but there's a series of youtube videos where two of the devs on the Ratchet games play through and provide commentary on the games. It's super interesting.

ya I like it, but it's not really what I was expecting. though I'm not sure what I was expecting as I avoided most of the pre-release previews and all that.

it's great but it didn't impress me like BioShock or Dishonored did. though the story so far is more interesting than those two games, the setting isn't really that spectacular. I thought Dunwall and Rapture were far more interesting places to be.

It might not be as impactful as the original was in 2007 but I find the setting more intriguing than the previous entries as well as Dishonored. Sound design hugely contributes to this. I highly recommend playing the game with headphones. The whole intro of the game has astonishing music and sound design. The church was an early highlight of mine.

I think I might be alone in this but I couldn't even get through about the first 2 hours of Dishonored. That art made me gag, over and over, and then gag, and then gag.. and then have Disney/Fable sweats. Rrreetch! It was just not my temperature at all.... not close.

It was awful to me.

But I do have friday off, and I have plans.. to go get Bioshock Infinite and raise some of that for Easter.

I know I stayed to watch the whole song. Gave me goosebumps. The sound design is indeed fantastic; I've been playing with headphones and it is absolutely worth it. I've had a few "whoa, I recognise that song!" moments.

I also love the little musical stings whenever you land a kill. Very Wind Waker.

i think i'm about half-way through the game and i'm at a part that's starting to drag. it's the part with the guns if anyone else knows what i'm talking about.

with the chinese guy? Yeah I've backtracked through the same area several times now and it's starting to grate. The tear thing was cool with the nosebleeds and all, and I do remember the original Bioshock had a lot of backtracking, but it doesn't seem to work quite as well here.

The game doesn't really make sense on the level that Bioshock the first did. To wit, in Bioshock, Rapture was the decaying (decayed?) ruins of a society of egotists and megalomaniacs who had access to supernatural powers that drove them mad. The plasmids make sense in the game, and in fact are the basis for all of the driving action in the game.

In Infinite, Columbia has none of these problems despite having access to similar supernatural powers. The vigors just don't make sense. Despite being handed out for free all over the place, very few people seem to use them. Never mind the fact that such science created magic powers would seem to upturn the supposed "natural order" and allow "lesser people" to overthrow their overlords, which would seem to be against the will of the racists at the core of Infinite.

Maybe this will all be explained at some point, but I doubt it. The game is beautiful, and a decent shooter (although it's much more rollercoastery and rollicking than the more methodical Bioshock), but it hits the exact same beats as Bioshock, seemingly only because Bioshock exists not because it makes sense in the game.

I agree. I haven't beaten it yet but I feel if they would have explained why the fuck Vigor is there they would have done it by now.

In addition some of the, for lack of a better word, 'consolization' of the game really bugs me. I'm playing 1999 mode but I can't quick save? I died at a boss and lost 10 minutes of scrounging around for loot and things because the game doesn't think to auto-save before I fight them. Dishonored did checkpoint saving right. It didn't over-write auto-saves (so instead of having to rely on one you could choose from multiple), it had decently spaced predetermined checkpoints, and a system for auto-saving every 5 minutes or so. I could live without quick-save if they had at least done a better job with their auto-save system, but currently it's just near useless. When you quit it even tells you when the last auto-save you had. It's like they knew in advance how dumb it was so they want to remind you. Even Dark Souls would at least make a new save when you quit the game.

I also really dislike only being able to carry two weapons at a time, and not being able to carry health/salt things on me. Elizabeth almost makes up for that, but she never really seems to give me enough. So most fights end up with me scrounging for salt/health in the midst of being shot in the face. It's either that or stay behind cover, pop out and shoot, then go back to cover and wait for my shields to recharge. The combat is fun, but if I were able to carry at least 4 weapons and carry salt/health things with me I would find it much more enjoyable.

For all the steps forward BioShock:Infinite takes, I feel these apparent console constraints hold it back.